Tax Takes a Holiday
The gas tax holiday is a joke, and an unfunny one at that.
1: What is the likelihood of the big oil companies passing along that price decrease? It is more likely that they’ll simply add it to their ongoing records profits. It’s not like the American Public can really do anything about it. And when the holiday ends in the fall, the price will spike another .18/gal as the tax is added back onto the windfall profit…what would that do to an already weakened economy? (Can you touch one thing in your house that wasn’t moved at some point by gas powered motors prior to your acquiring it.)
Even if gas companies did pass it along, I wouldn’t know where to spend my $1.44 per week windfall. (If I had a monster truck with a 20 gallon tank I could get close to $3.60 per week.)
2: Laws of supply & demand have not been repealed. As a writer on the BusinessWeek website noted, simple economics would still apply: Decreasing the cost of gas would lead to an increase in the demand, leading back to a price increase.
3: It doesn’t address any long term solution. Use less, use something else, and make more domestically are the obvious solutions and a tax holiday doesn’t address any of these issues nor have I heard anything from the politicians proposing this as a short term fix.
4: It would, if you’re Sen. McCain, reduce revenue that is used to maintain the transportation infrastructure. Would bridges come crashing down or highways fall apart? Probably not, but are your roads so good that maintenance spending can be reduced?
Once upon a time oil producing nations were afraid that high fuel costs would drive conservation & alternative fuels in the US…but all that seems to happen is that we complain, loudly, about how much is costs to fill up our SUV’s.
1: What is the likelihood of the big oil companies passing along that price decrease? It is more likely that they’ll simply add it to their ongoing records profits. It’s not like the American Public can really do anything about it. And when the holiday ends in the fall, the price will spike another .18/gal as the tax is added back onto the windfall profit…what would that do to an already weakened economy? (Can you touch one thing in your house that wasn’t moved at some point by gas powered motors prior to your acquiring it.)
Even if gas companies did pass it along, I wouldn’t know where to spend my $1.44 per week windfall. (If I had a monster truck with a 20 gallon tank I could get close to $3.60 per week.)
2: Laws of supply & demand have not been repealed. As a writer on the BusinessWeek website noted, simple economics would still apply: Decreasing the cost of gas would lead to an increase in the demand, leading back to a price increase.
3: It doesn’t address any long term solution. Use less, use something else, and make more domestically are the obvious solutions and a tax holiday doesn’t address any of these issues nor have I heard anything from the politicians proposing this as a short term fix.
4: It would, if you’re Sen. McCain, reduce revenue that is used to maintain the transportation infrastructure. Would bridges come crashing down or highways fall apart? Probably not, but are your roads so good that maintenance spending can be reduced?
Once upon a time oil producing nations were afraid that high fuel costs would drive conservation & alternative fuels in the US…but all that seems to happen is that we complain, loudly, about how much is costs to fill up our SUV’s.